Cooper Financial Group Purchases 5,097 Shares of Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV)

Cooper Financial Group increased its position in shares of Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) by 23.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 26,520 shares of the airline’s stock after buying an additional 5,097 shares during the period. Cooper Financial Group’s holdings in Southwest Airlines were worth $892,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Sanctuary Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Southwest Airlines by 32.9% in the third quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 65,831 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $2,105,000 after purchasing an additional 16,293 shares in the last quarter. Olstein Capital Management L.P. raised its position in Southwest Airlines by 33.7% in the 3rd quarter. Olstein Capital Management L.P. now owns 258,000 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $7,645,000 after buying an additional 65,000 shares during the last quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC purchased a new position in Southwest Airlines during the 2nd quarter worth $609,000. Mizuho Securities USA LLC raised its holdings in shares of Southwest Airlines by 6,414.5% in the third quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 3,006,000 shares of the airline’s stock valued at $89,068,000 after purchasing an additional 2,959,857 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Highland Peak Capital LLC purchased a new position in Southwest Airlines during the third quarter worth about $2,963,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.82% of the company’s stock.

Southwest Airlines Price Performance

Shares of NYSE LUV opened at $32.72 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $32.92 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $30.04. Southwest Airlines Co. has a twelve month low of $23.58 and a twelve month high of $36.12. The firm has a market capitalization of $19.62 billion, a P/E ratio of -467.43, a P/E/G ratio of 7.38 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The airline reported $0.15 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.05 by $0.10. Southwest Airlines had a negative net margin of 0.06% and a positive return on equity of 4.56%. The business had revenue of $6.87 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.77 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.38 earnings per share. Southwest Airlines’s quarterly revenue was up 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 0.78 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southwest Airlines Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 16th. Investors of record on Thursday, December 26th will be paid a $0.18 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, December 26th. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.20%. Southwest Airlines’s dividend payout ratio is presently -1,028.57%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

LUV has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. UBS Group upped their price objective on Southwest Airlines from $27.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “sell” rating and issued a $28.00 price objective on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research report on Friday, November 15th. TD Cowen increased their target price on shares of Southwest Airlines from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their price target on shares of Southwest Airlines from $30.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, BNP Paribas raised Southwest Airlines to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $32.55.

Insider Buying and Selling at Southwest Airlines

In other Southwest Airlines news, major shareholder Elliott Investment Management sold 1,203,920 shares of Southwest Airlines stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.83, for a total transaction of $35,912,933.60. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 59,912,580 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,787,192,261.40. This trade represents a 1.97 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Linda B. Rutherford sold 3,849 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.40, for a total transaction of $132,405.60. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 89,376 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,074,534.40. The trade was a 4.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

About Southwest Airlines

Southwest Airlines Co operates as a passenger airline company that provides scheduled air transportation services in the United States and near-international markets. As of December 31, 2023, the company operated a total fleet of 817 Boeing 737 aircraft; and served 121 destinations in 42 states, the District of Columbia, and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, as well as ten near-international countries, including Mexico, Jamaica, the Bahamas, Aruba, the Dominican Republic, Costa Rica, Belize, Cuba, the Cayman Islands, and Turks and Caicos.